True to (plat)form.

The mobile market isn’t exactly known for its caliber of games. Endless clones of Flappy Bird and Candy Crush, as well as poor ports, have tarnished mobile’s reputation. But it doesn’t have to be that way. Done properly, mobile gaming is a great experience, every bit as rewarding as PC and console endeavors. Touch control is perfectly acceptable, and it lends itself well to platform games. Not just endless runners, either. We’re talking pure platforming built from the same mold as all our favorite NES, SNES, and Sega Genesis classics. Today, we’ll be taking a look at five such platformers that’ll be right at home on your phone and tablet.

Please note, this list mainly focuses on mobile exclusives. There are other excellent platform games, such as Christian Whitehead’s remakes of Sonic the Hedgehog, Sonic the Hedgehog 2, and Sonic CD (which are now free and totally worth your time), but we wish to focus on games that appear only on mobile, for now at least.

Let us begin!